Keir Starmer visits the Emmer Green Youth & Community Centre to mark the beginning of the new year and highlight the government's decision to freeze rail-fares, in Reading, England, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.

It’s only the first week of 2026 and already the strains within the Labour Party are already starting to emerge.

Keir Starmer has tried to start off with a clean slate, telling his first cabinet meeting of the new year that the focus would be on the cost of living crisis.

He promised senior ministers: “Yes there’s a world of uncertainty and upheaval, but tackling the cost of living remains and must remain our focus.”

But how does reality match up to that claim?

1. Backlash Over UK’s Venezuela Response

Labour backbenchers have been furious over the government’s lacklustre response to Donald Trump’s military strikes on Venezuela.

He also seized the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and has now promised that the US will “run” Venezuela until a safe transition of power can take place.

MPs have raged over the government’s refusal to describe the White House’s move as a breach of international law.

In the Commons on Monday evening – the first day back after the Christmas break – three of Starmer’s former colleagues who sat alongside him in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet tore into him.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told home secretary Yvette Cooper that part of upholding international law is calling out other breaches of it.

“I found it shameful that the prime minister and ministers today in the news rounds........

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